I do not own Phineas and Ferb, I only own the OC's Sean, Rose, Terri and Kenny. Please enjoy this one-shot set in the same universe as my series Adventures a Generation Later.
Isabella Flynn was at the end of her rope. With her husband and brother-in-law away on a business trip and her sister-in-law still on tour, responsibility fell on Isabella to look after the kids. There were four in total. Her son Sean and niece Rose were both four, there was her two-year-old daughter Terri and her nephew Kenny who was only a few months old. The four kids were a handful. Sean and Rose were constantly getting into disagreements, Terri was constantly demanding her attention and Kenny was keeping her up all night with his crying.
If the situation was bad at home, it was worse in public, especially in shops. Sean and Rose kept asking her to buy things for them, while Terri and Kenny kept throwing groceries across the shops every chance they got. She found them easier to manage in a public park, as Sean and Rose would just go play on a playground, while Isabella watched Kenny and Terri.
By the fourth day however Isabella was nearing exhaustion. It was close to lunch time. Isabella had left Sean and Rose in front of the television hoping that would keep them preoccupied long enough fer her to make lunch for everyone. Kenny and Terri were both sitting in highchairs. Kenny was playfully clapping his hands on his chair, while Terri was occupied with a colouring book.
"Mamma hungry," whined Terri.
"I know honey just give mummy a minute," said Isabella.
Sean and Rose entered the kitchen arguing.
"Mum! Rose keeps changing the channel from the cartoon I want to watch," whined Sean.
"He always gets to pick what we watch," said Rose.
"Well you know what guys lunch is almost ready, so how about we sit at the table and we can decide what we watch later," suggested Isabella.
Surprisingly, Sean and Rose complied as they were both hungry.
Sean and Rose ate quietly while Isabella gave Kenny his bottle of formula. Terri was getting impatient as she wanted to be fed.
"Mamma!" cried Terri.
"In a minute honey," said Isabella.
After everyone was fed, Isabella got Rose and Sean to agree on a show, then she went upstairs to put Kenny and Terri down for a nap. There was not much of an issue with putting Kenny down, but Terri complained that she wasn't sleepy. Thankfully she eventually dozed off after Isabella read her a story. Isabella thought she could finally get a few minutes to herself and went to have a little snooze in the chair in the nursery. She was awoken twenty minutes later by Rose and Sean arguing again.
"I was watching that," yelled Sean.
"We always watch what you want," yelled Rose.
"it's my house," yelled Sean.
"Well, I'm a guest," yelled Rose.
The noise woke Kenny and he started crying at the top of his lungs and Terri also threw a fit. Isabella could not take it anymore. She went downstairs to find Sean and Rose fighting over the remote.
"WILL YOU TWO STOP," yelled Isabella, Sean and Rose went silent.
Isabella took the remote from them and started going through the streaming service to find a show they both liked.
"You guys like this show right?" asked Isabella.
Both Sean and Rose silently nodded.
"Good. Now you're gonna sit here, watch this and be quiet. Understood?" asked Isabella.
Sean and Rose nodded.
Isabella left Sean and Rose to go calm the crying children.
The rest of the afternoon was reasonably peaceful. Sean and Rose were too scared to do anything that might upset Isabella so they watched television and barely said another word. Dinner was also fairly silent, apart from Kenny and Terri's cries for food. Eventually everyone was bathed and put to bed. Isabella came in to check on Sean and Rose.
"I don't want to have to come in here again. Ok?" asked Isabella.
"Yes Mum," said Sean.
"Yes Auntie Izzie," said Rose.
Isabella turned off the light and shut the door. After checking that Terri and Kenny had gone to sleep, Isabella headed to bed. She lay awake for a while crying. She was upset that she had lost her temper with Sean and Rose but was so tired she could not help herself. To make matters worse she knew she would be up multiple times in the night to Kenny and her husband would not be back until Sunday. She could not do this anymore. At least not by herself. Hoping they were still awake she picked up her phone and dialled a number.
"Hello?" asked a woman on the other end.
"Linda, I need help," cried Isabella.
The next morning went like it normally did. After they finished breakfast Rose and Sean saw Isabella packing a few bags.
"Mum, what're you doing?" asked Sean.
"You kids are gonna be spending the day with Granma and Grandpa," said Isabella.
"Are you coming?" asked Rose.
"No, your Auntie Izzie needs some time to herself," said Isabella.
This hurt Rose and Sean. Was she still angry at them?
"Mum we're sorry, we promise we won't fight anymore," said Sean.
"Regardless honey, Mummy is very tired and she needs some rest."
In half an hour Lawrence and Linda arrived to pick up their grandkids. After the kids were gone Isabella went up to the master bedroom and crashed as soon as she hit the mattress.
The kids spent the rest of the day at their grandparents and because there were two of them, they found the four kids a little easier to manage. They alternated between playing with Sean and Rose and watching Terri and Kenny. Sean and Terri's grandmother, Vivian also came to help, even Rose and Kenny's grandmother Charlene stopped by. Although they had had a good time Sean and Rose still felt guilty about making Isabella mad.
After Kenny and Terri had been put to bed, Sean and Rose were told they could stay up for a little longer. Linda and Lawrence assumed they would either want to watch television or just spend the time playing. They were surprised to find that they wanted to speak to them.
"Granma, Grandpa, is Mum still mad at us?" asked Sean.
"How can we get Auntie Izzie to forgive us?" asked Rose.
Linda and Lawrence patted their knees, and the two kids went to sit on their laps. Sean sat with Lawrence, while Rose sat with Linda.
"Kids she's not mad at you she's just feeling a little overwhelmed," said Linda.
"Why?" asked Rose.
"Well, you've got to understand being a parent isn't an easy job. She has to feed you, take care of you and above all else, she's responsible for your safety. That can be difficult when you're watching one child, being responsible for four makes the job far more difficult!" explained Lawrence.
"Does Auntie Izzie not like having us around?" asked Rose.
"No no not at all. If fact being a part of your lives is one of her favourite things in the world, she's just a little exhausted from having to handle all the responsibilities on her own, especially considering that Terri and Kenny require a lot of attention. You probably hear Kenny crying a lot at night, who do you think has to go and calm him down?" asked Linda.
Rose and Sean connected the dots, which only made them feel more guilty over Isabella losing her temper.
"Is there anything we could do to help?" asked Sean.
"The best thing you guys can do is to try and keep the fighting to a minimum. If she doesn't have to keep breaking up fights it'll decrease her responsibilities immensely," said Lawrence.
Sean and Rose felt like they could accomplish that, they would do anything to make Isabella less stressed.
"We'll do our best," said Sean.
"Good, now how about you guys go to bed. I'll be up to check on you guys in a minute," said Linda.
The children spent the next day with their grandparents. Isabella came to pick them up that night. She had spent the last two days cleaning the house and getting some much needed rest. The fathers would return Sunday evening, which would hopefully lift some weight off her shoulders. She knew she would still have to watch the kids during the day while Phineas and Ferb were at work but they promised to help out as much as they could when they got home. Her last day alone with the kids was surprisingly pleasant. Although Terri and Kenny still required much attention, Rose and Sean had not broken into a single fight and even tried to help her. This included helping to feed Terri and Kenny and reading them stories when it was time for a nap. Due to their great intellect, they were exceptional readers for their age making it easy for them to read books to their younger siblings.
Phineas and Ferb eventually returned and took responsibility for the kids while Isabella went to bed early. What Isabella did not know was that she was in for a big surprise the next morning. She woke up feeling like she had had the best night sleep ever. She looked at her bedside alarm clock. It was 10:30AM, which freaked her out. How could she have overslept? She hadn't made the kids breakfast and was scared to think that Ferb had left his kids here without even checking she was awake. She rushed downstairs to find Phineas in the living room playing with Sean and Terri.
"Morning sleeping beauty," said Phineas.
"Phineas, what's going on? Shouldn't you be at work?" asked Isabella.
"Mum told us about your little freak out."
Isabella dropped her head in shame.
"Now, now don't feel bad you've done nothing wrong. Ferb and I realised we've been unfair to you. We shouldn't have just expected you'd be ok with looking after all the kids on your own, so we decided its time to be a little more responsible for our kids," said Phineas.
"What do you mean?" asked Isabella.
"Ferb and I have decided to take the next three weeks off to help with the kids," said Phineas. "Nessa wanted to come back and help, but her contract forces her to keep touring for the rest of the year, but don't worry about Ferb, Mum and Charlene have agreed to take turns helping him."
Although Isabella loved her kids with all her heart, she was so grateful that Phineas was going to be helping a little more. She went up and hugged her husband.
"Oh Phineas thank you," said Isabella.
"Don't worry about it, but there are two things I want you to promise me," said Phineas.
"What's that?" asked Isabella.
"One, don't ever tell yourself you're a bad mother. You've worked harder than any of us to raise these little rugrats and even the most patient mother would eventually lose her temper. Two, if you're having trouble don't be afraid to ask for help. We have plenty of family and friends who are more than happy to lend a hand," stated Phineas.
"Alright I promise," said Isabella.
And with that Phineas and Isabella got back to playing with their kids. They knew raising their kids would be difficult, but if they did it together, they knew they would manage.